I am a conservative

[BushOut06]

I believe that we shouldn't spend more than we pull in. I believe that those who have been blessed the most financially should bear their fair share of our burden. I don't believe it's fiscally responsible to cut taxes at a time when we are spending more. I don't believe in runaway deficits. I don't believe in granting "fair trade" status that winds up hurting our own workers.

I believe in the sanctity of life. This is why I oppose the death penalty. This is also why I support stem cell research.

I believe in upholding the US Constitution. This is why I oppose warrantless wiretaps and eavesdropping. This is why I believe in the right of habeus corpus. I don't believe in locking up American citizens without giving them a fair trial. I also believe that we should uphold the Geneva Convention, which was ratified by the US Congress, in accordance with the Constitution.

I believe in protecting the family. This is why I support same-sex marriage. I believe the rampant divorce rate in this country is far more damaging to "social values" than allowing two men or women to marry each other. I believe it's far better to allow a same-sex couple to adopt children than it is to allow these children to grow up moving from foster home to foster home, never knowing any stability.

I believe in freedom of religion. This is why I oppose state-sponsored displays of Christian symbols, ie Ten Commandments or crosses. Just as I would oppose the display of the Koran or Wiccan symbols in a courtroom or classroom. I'm sorry, it is not a simple case of "majority rule".

Aren't these "conservative" values?

[seabeyond]

1. i say this often in my conservative area, with all my repugs and keeps

me in laughter aqt the ridiculous. the dems are now doing what the repugs had always run on in the past, plus doing what they have always stood for. and i laugh and laugh talking to my people. they dont quite see the humor i do

[BushOut06]

9. Republicans have long abandoned their core values

I think that's why you see more and more people switching party affiliations. The GOP now stands for big business, the rich, and the extreme religious right. There's not even any pretense anymore that they are working to improve our lives.

[Iris]

2. no. I'm sick and tired of decent values being labelled "conservative" as if

the exact opposite of those values is "liberal" and "bad".

I mean, I see your point and all, but I think we should quit trying to chang the language. You know what conservative means in my book? Unwilling to change, no matter how many people are suffering, no matter how many studies have proven that some policies don't work, and no matter how much scientific evidence there is to prove the old ways of doing things are not always the best ways.

[madmusic]

14. Powerfully said!

That meme has to GO DOWN!

[Maven]

19. ...

:thumbsup:

[SallyMander]

3. WORD

i love this post. thanks for sharing!!

[survivor999]

4. Regarding the sanctity of life...

How do you feel about the war in Iraq? There was no mention of it in the post...

[BushOut06]

8. I think the war in Iraq is WRONG

Iraq never posed a threat to us. I believe Bush wanted to finish what Daddy didn't. 9-11 gave him the "excuse" he needed, but I'm convinced he would have invaded regardless.

[Freedom_from_Chains]

11. It's pretty straight ahead. It is a war we had no business getting

ourselves into and conservatives would have never done such. Neo-con fascist, now that's a different story.

[flowomo]

5. "conservative" means everything and nothing these days....

the conflation of "conservative" with "family values" is a recent invention of the GOP -- and a pretty effective tactic, rhetorically. My understanding is that traditional conservatism is related to the degree to which you believe that the government should step in to regulate/mediate social/political/economic forces. Ronald Reagan's "government IS the problem" comes pretty close to the core of it.

[Nite Owl]

6. I believe in those things too

but I would never say I'm a conservative. I am a liberal, the United States of America was founded on liberal principles. Those are liberal values, the conservatives may have claimed them but they do no follow them, they have done nothing for this country, nothing. What has become the standard acccepted idea in the media that being a conservative is a good thing was hoisted on us decades ago when they kept saying that liberals were 'tax and spend', that liberals were somehow 'immoral', that liberals were 'soft on crime', that liberals were 'weak on defense'. It was a lie then and it is now and just like they like to say that they are somehow 'fiscally conservative' there is no such thing. Fiscally responsible is the better phrase and the left has proven that definitely not the conservatives who use the treasury as a credit card with no spending limits whatsoever and leave us the bill to pay. Conservatism is nothing more than an overdrawn account. The word itself has to become associated with what they really are, what it really means. We have to run toward liberalism not away from it anymore.

[DeeDeeNY]

12. You are exactly right

Those are my sentiments too, although I couldn't have said it as well as you did.
It's all in the semantics.

[sutz12]

7. Not 'conservative' as much as 'decent human values' IMO nt

[Freedom_from_Chains]

10. You are right, this is what a conservative really is.

Not the fascist that are currently parading themselves around in public as conservatives under the Republican banner.

[jwirr]

13. Oh My, I guess I am a conservative to, something I never thought

to admitting. Great thinking.

[Iris]

16. DON'T admit it.

Don't label yourself according to right's success in making the word liberal worse than the words fuck or cunt.

I'm sorry to be so vulgar, but this is just ridiculous. I have to relabel my values because people refuse to think for themselves?

[jwirr]

17. I get it. I am a liberal first.

[mmonk]

15. I'm a leftwing moonbat and share those views.

[melody]

18. One can take any set of ideas and spin them as "conservative" or "liberal"

Which is, I think, your point, but just thought I'd make it anew for those objecting.

All thinking people are a mixture of "conservative" and "liberal ideas". In fact, to quote
Robert Anton Wilson, "It only takes twenty years for a liberal idea to become conservative". :)

[mvd]

20. This liberal agrees on all points

I would increase spending to get universal health care, fund education and helping our environment, and step-up anti-poverty programs. I would increase taxes on the rich, too, to help pay. Preferably, the middle class would not pay more.